Dolls that last and last and last...

If you have any sort of commuting to do with toddlers, you know you have to be armed with something to keep them occupied along the way.

The Double-G tag team

Today, Giselle (from the Disney movie Enchanted) and toddler Gingerbread boy (lets just call him George) are our chaperones. I know, I know...Giselle has really let herself go since settling down in "normal life". 

Gingerbread boy is about 10 years old and Giselle, only 7. Grandma had bought George for my two older girls when they were maybe 6 or 7 years old. He's held up pretty well because he was hardly played with really. 

Giselle on the other hand was a doll my husband bought for the second oldest (Miss N) when the movie came out and she loved it lots. 

Once the girls evolved from tweens into teens, the Barbie dolls and toys gradually got packed away. When they were growing up, they even had hand-me-down Barbies from my own childhood. These things just last and last! So now, the twins have hand-me-downs from their older sisters which obviously doesn't bother them one bit. 

But it did get me thinking about how much plastic goes into making these dolls and how many millions of these childhood playthings get tossed into the trash once their once loving owners outgrow them. The S$20 (or US$10) that's spent on one of these dolls is really billions of dollars worth of landfill cost and environmental hazard costs. Those Barbies my mother had kept for my older girls were "recycled" to a family in Indonesia after sifting out the ones my youngest girl wanted. I do wish I had straightened out the old dolls' hair first. Learn how to refresh your old Barbie doll's matted hair here. I'll be trying it on Giselle soon so that she doesn't look so raggedy and will be rightfully restored to her royal princess beauty. Right now she looks like dumpster princess.

I came across some other interesting upcycling of Barbie dolls at Waste Connect such as making jewellery out of Barbie doll parts... um, okay. Creepy much? 

 

(Photo credits to © Margaux Lange 2014. )

But oh well, just try to remember that these toys that bring our children but a moment's pleasure in their whole lifetime really chalks up a huge lot of plastic waste. So, before you go to the toy department, try to find some hand-me-downs or "recycled toys" (Or more recently termed "pre-loved toys") from sellers who haven't the heart to bin them and do your part in saving our earth AND appeasing your fussy toddler at the same time (at a fraction of the retail price, I might add!) 

Awesome parents Save the Earth!! Happy Weekend everybody!